While revenues from the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund (CPF) are lower overall than they were a year ago as real estate has cooled off a bit from the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the month of August brought a revenue spike, according to Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.
Thiele, the architect of the CPF program who looks at the figures as they become available, reported that $17.48 million was collected in August 2022, compared to $13.45 million in the same month in 2021.
“August 2022 revenues are $4.03 million higher than the same month a year ago,” Thiele says. “This marks only the second month (January) in 2022 where revenues were higher than the same month in 2021.”
Still, the first eight months of 2022 have seen 3.5% less than the same time period in 2021. So far, $139.69 million has been collected this year, compared to $144.74 million last year.
But, relatively speaking, the CPF remains up, as August marks the 25th consecutive month the revenues have exceeded $10 million, according to the Thiele.
Looking at the last 12 months, the community preservation fund has generated $205 million.
While South Fork numbers have fallen steadily, the North Fork numbers have crept up. The Town of Riverhead has taken in 48.9% more money in the first eight months this year than in 2021 — $6.82 million compared to $4.58 million.
The Town of Southold has seen 17% more money, $9.65 million, up from $8.25 million.
In the rest of the East End towns, it’s a different story with Shelter Island taking the biggest hit. Revenues are down 28.5%, despite a handful of large sales, including a waterfront home on Ram Island for $9.7 million. It has so far collected $2.18 million instead of $3.05 million in the first eight months of 2021.
In Southampton Town, which sees the biggest revenues overall, CPF money is down 5.8%. The town has seen $75.69 million so far this year, compared to $80.37 million in the same period of 2021.
The Town of East Hampton has received $45.34 million, 6.5% less than in 2021 when it took in $48.47 million in the first eight months of the year.
Since its inception in 1999, the Peconic Bay Regional Community Preservation Fund has generated $1.95 billion.
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